Device Ownership vs. Hosting

Today I saw a video about a design experiment around the concept of hosting a product vs. owning a product. Here’s the video:

Before I get into why this struck me so much, I’d like to point out the similarities between Brad and the toaster from the Red Dwarf books. This is totally something I can see that guy doing.

Back to the experiment itself, I’ve identified within myself the tendency to buy a lot of stuff that I don’t really use. In fact just today I had to convince myself out of buying the Oculus Rift Developer Kit 2 because I didn’t use the original dev kit that I backed on Kickstarter. Even now I go back and forth on purchasing stuff because I’m worried I won’t use it, even when it’s clear I will. I’m debating purchasing a Yiynova Cintiq clone because I’m doing a lot of drawing lately, and still it’s a hard decision.

Couple that with the fact that I can absolutely see a resource crunch that means that new products become prohibitively expensive and I can completely understand what the thought experiment is about. Not only that but I also think it would be a positive change. Give your unused and unloved device to someone who will use it more and free up some clutter in your life.

PS: I also think the idea of a device peer network is both fascinating and terrifying.